Rail anchor



July 24, 1928. 1,678,404

G. 1.. MOORE ET AL RAIL ANCHOR Filed March 28, 1927 I INVENTORS &5

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE L001? MOOIQE AND JAMES ROBERT STEELE, OF OWEGO, NEW YORK.

BAIL ANCHOR. 7

Application filed March 28, 1927; Serial No, 178,924.

Our invention relates to anchors, that is to say, devices for preventing the longitudinal movement of railway rails.

One of the objects of our invention is to provide a one-piece, self-locking anticreeper or rail anchor, which will grip the rail with great tenacity, regardless of weather conditions or rail vibrations.

Another object of our invention is to providean anti-creeper which is easily applied or removed, as the occasion requires.

A further object of our invention is the provision of a rail-anchor so constructed that it may be repeatedly removed and replaced without impairing its gripping qualities.

The novel features will be more fully understood" from the following description and claims taken with the drawings, in which;

Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view through a rail showing in broken lines one step in applying the rail anchor to a rail, and in full lines, a succeeding step;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through a rail base showing the rail'anchor in place;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the rail anchor, showing same appliedto a rail in engage ment with the tie; I N

Fig; 4,- is a transverse sectional view through a rail havinga modified. form of the rail anchor applied thereto.

Referring to the drawing:

The numeral 10 designates a rail which may be of any cross section and which it is desired to hold against any longitudinal creep, and 11 is an underlying tie member forming a stationary part of the road bed and supporting the rail 10.

Our improved rail anchor is made of a single piece of flat metal, preferably of re-' silient or spring qualities and may be. of

any desired thickness or width. It comprises an under rail portion 12, having up wardly and inwardly directed hooked end.

portions 13 and 1 1 respectively, which are adapted toengagethe upper surface ofthe flanges of the rail when the anchor is in its effective position. The end portion 13 is preferably formed with a single thickness of material, whereas, the end portion 141 is preferably made with a double thickness of material obtained by bending the material of the jaw portion upon itself or doubling in the manner clearly shown in the drawings, to constitute a curve portion 15, which is contiguous with the inside face of the end portion 11. The curve portion 15 continued along the upper surface of the under rail portion 12, and in the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2,'this extended portion, which is indicated by the numeral 16 is bowed upwardly, as at 17, and its free end 18 bears against the upper face of the under rail porthe free end 16 is normally bent upwardly and obliquely to the upper surface of the under rail portion 12 andis slightly bent downwardly with curved portion 18 as clearlyshown in the figure. In this modi fication, the extending portion 16 functions as a leaf spring, the free end of which is.

adapted to bear against the underside ofthe rail, when the anchor is in itseflective posiq tion ontherail, and, in order to provide a fulcrum point for the spring the under rail portion 12 is bowed, as at 19, and bears against the underside of portion 16, at a point intermediate the free endthereof and its junction with the hooked end portion of] 1 the rail anchor. a

Referring to Fig. 1, the rail anchor is.

applied to the rail base, by freely placing the end 13 over the edge of the flange of the rail, bringing the spring bowed portion 16 against the bottom of the rail, as indi cated in broken lines. The end 141- is then raised upwardly and at the same time the anchor is moved slightlytransversely of the rail by any suitable means, such as, striking the knuckle portion of the end 1 :1

witha hammer until the extending end of the hook engages the upperedge of the rail flange, asindicated in full linesin the figure. This movement placesthe spring bowed portion 16' under initial compression, thereby causing the end 13 to be brought tightly in contact with the upper surface of the rail flange. The anchor is then driven transversely of the rail by means of a hammer or any suitable implement, to the final position of the device as shown in Fig. 2. The last mentioned op-- eration causes a still further distortion of the bowed spring portion 16 which exerts a great pressure against the bottom of the rail and causes the device to grip with considerable force the upper surface of the rail base.

The modified form of anchor shown in Fig. 4: is applied in the same manner as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The tendency of the rail creeper to assume its original shape results in an extremely strong gripping action on the rail base and holds it effectively in spite of any rail vibrations, or weather conditions.

The anchor is placed in position so as to' abut against the tie, as shown in Fig. 3, at that side of the tie so as to oppose the creeping action of the rail under traflic conditions. Thus, by the engagement with the anchor of the tie the longitudinal movement of the rail is prevented.

It will be seen from the above description that we have devised a rail anchor which can be readily applied to a rail base and can be easily removed by striking the end 13 of the device with a hammer or other suitable tool, and the anchor may be effectively applied again to the rail, if desired, due to the fact that no permanent set has taken place in the metal during its first application, on account of the resiliency of the material from which the anchor is made.

While we have shown our invention in but two forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in theart that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and nmdifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and we desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by =the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l.- A rail anchor comprising an under rail portion, upwardly and inwardly eX- tending hook end portions adapted to en,- gage the upper face of the flange of a rail, and means constituting an extension of one of said hook portions adapted to bear against the underside of the rail base and against said under rail portion, so that when the anchor is driven transversely of the rail to its effective position said means is distorted and by tending to assume its normal condition exerts a strong upward pressure against the base of the rail and a strong downward pressure upon said under rail portion.

2. A single-piece rail anchor comprising an under rail portion, a pair of hook end portions adapted to engage with the upper surface of a rail base, and a spring bar portion having a free end supported on said under rail portion and adapted to engage the underside of said rail.

3. A single-piece rail anchor comprising an under rail portion, a pair of hook end portions adapted to engage with the upper surfaceoi a rail. base, and a spring bar portion bent upwardly from the under rail portion adapted to engage the underside of the rail and having a free end supported on said under, rail portion. H

A rail anchorcomprising a flat steel bar having at one end a hook portion of single thickness and at its other end a hook portion of double thickness formed by bending the bar upwardly and inwardly, then outwardly upon itself in contiguity with the inside face of the outer layer of material, the free end of the latter hook portion being extended towards the first mentioned hook portion and bent upwardly in thc vertical plane of the anchor to constitute a spring member.

5 A rail anchor comprising an under rail portion having at each enda hook portion adapted to engage the upper surface of the rail flange, and a resilient member integral with one of said, hook end portions and extending over said under rail portion adapted to bear against the underside of the rail and having a free end supported on said under rail portion, whereby when the anchor is applied transversely of the rail base, said resilient member exerts a clownward pressure on the anchor and causes a strong gripping action of the hook portions on the rail flanges.

6.111 a railroad track construction, the combination with a rail of'an anchor comprising an under rail portion having the major portion thereof spaced from the undersurface of the rail and provided'with hook end portions engaging the upper surface of the rail flange, and a resilient member intermediate the under rail portion and the underside of the rail exerting an upward pressure against said rail at a point intermediate the plane of the web and the region of the flange in contact with one of said hook portions and exerting a downward pressure at a plurality of points on the upper surface of said under rail portion.

7. Inia railroad track construction, the combination with a rail of an anchor com prising an under rail portion having the major portion thereof spacedfrom the undersurface of the rail'a'nd' provided with hook end portions engaging the upper surface of the rail flange, and a bowed resilient portion integral with one of said hook por-' tions extending within said space and exert ing a pressure against the underside of said rail.

8. A rail anchor c'omp'risingan under rail portion having at one end a hook portion of single thickness and at the other end a hook portionof double thickness, and a resilient bowed member integral with the latter hook portion and supported at its free end on said under rail portion.

9. A single-piece rail anchor comprising an under rail portion adapted to extend transversely of the base of a rail free thereof and substantially pare'llel thereto, a hook end of single thickness for engaging the upper surface of the rail flange, a hook end of double thickness for engaging the upper surface of the rail flange and a resilient element in continuation of the inside portion of the hook end of doubled thickness adapted to contact with the underside of a rail at a point intermediate the medial vertical transverse plane of the under rail portion and the vertical plane of the free end of one of said hook portions so that upon hooking one of the hook ends about the flange of a rail the other hook end may be raised vertically and transversely of the rail to engage about the other flange of the rail and cause the resilient element to exert an upward pressure against the underside of the rail to se cure the anchor effectively upon the rail.

10. A single-piece anchor formed of flat steel and having an under rail portion a curved member of single thickness for engaging one of the flanges of a rail, a curved member of double thickness for engaging the other flange of a rail, and a resilient member continuous with the member of double thickness and bearing against said under rail portion at a plurality of points and adapted to exert a pressure against the underside of the rail when the anchor is mounted in its operative position.

'In testimony whereof we hereunto aflix our signatures.

GEORGE LOOP MOORE.

JAMES ROBERT STEELE. 

